The monitoring of currents and voltages as well as other conditions in electrical circuits generally requires the interaction and interconnection of a number of different components. One or more sensors such as current transformers and potential (voltage) transformers may be utilized and coupled at appropriate points in the electrical circuit to be monitored, so as to monitor the voltage and current values in the circuit as desired. Appropriate connections must then be made from these sensors into additional circuitry for further receiving and processing these voltage and current signals to determine whether the electrical characteristics of the monitored circuit fall within predetermined or desirable limits. This additional circuitry may provide additional output signals to trip circuit breakers or other components for interrupting the circuit, in the event the monitored electrical characteristics and conditions do not fall within the desired limits, or to produce other warnings, indications or readouts, as desired.
The additional circuitry may be part of a separate metering circuit which then must be suitably interfaced with the sensors and with the circuit breaker or other equipment and provided with suitable connectors, cabling, etc. to achieve the desired interconnections and functions. Alternatively, the various sensors and metering circuits may need to be coupled with various elements of different electrical systems such as panelboard, busway, or motor control centers. Each of these different requirements generally requires a different sort of custom installation with attendant connectors being provided to mate with the connectors of the panelboard, busway, motor control center or circuit breaker in which the sensor and associated processing or metering circuitry are to be utilized.
Accordingly, installation of appropriate monitoring elements and circuitry for different situations generally requires a relatively high level of skill on the part of the installer as well as access to a variety of different sensor elements, various metering devices and different types of connectors for completing the assembly and installation in each case. From the standpoint of a manufacturer or supplier, it is also necessary to design, manufacture and stock a wide variety of these components for use in different types of installations.
The present invention proposes to improve upon the foregoing situation by providing a number of novel modular components including a modular sensor array which may incorporate a number of prewired sensors. The sensor array may further be provided with an appropriate preconnectorized housing sized and configured to mate with the desired circuit breaker, panelboard, busway or motor control center with the appropriate mating connectors in place and appropriately located with respect to the housing. Furthermore, the sensor housing arranged to easily interfit with the conductors to be monitored as they enter the circuit breaker, panelboard, busway or motor control center, permitting the sensor array housing to be mounted directly to the same.
The invention further provides a modular metering module which is also provided with the necessary processing circuitry for performing all of the necessary processing functions for deriving various electrical characteristics of a circuit from voltage and current input signals. This metering module may be preconnectorized to readily receive input connections from appropriate sensors or from a sensor array and provide the appropriate output signals via others of the preconnectorized connections. Preferably the metering module is further arranged to conveniently mount directly to the sensor array which is in turn mounted to the circuit breaker, panelboard, etc. as previously noted. The sensor array module may include components for conditioning the current and voltage sensor signals prior to delivering the same to the metering module for further processing.
Alternatively, the metering module may mount to a mounting and connection base, which provides the appropriate interface and connections to the sensors and to the circuit breaker, panelboard, etc. Finally, the invention contemplates a novel mounting and connection base provided with a number of connectors for receiving output of individual sensors to be associated with the circuits to be monitored as well as providing for connection of a metering module for processing the sensor signals. The mounting and connection base and the metering module are preferably conveniently configured for simply and easily mounting the metering module to the mounting and connection base in a manner for simultaneously establishing both mechanical and electrical coupling of a metering module with the mounting and connection base. The mounting and connection base may further include additional electrical elements for conditioning the signals from current and voltage sensors prior to delivering the same to the metering module.